N Natural Hair Studio was born out of a love for and devotion to textured hair. In a society that has historically rejected textured hair, founder Angela Walker is a revolutionary – redefining Western beauty standards and helping her clients fall in love with their kinks, coils and curls.
Founded in 2012, N Natural Hair Studio is a natural hair salon known for flat twists and locs. At its heart is Angela Walker. Her journey as a stylist, educator, entrepreneur and mother has been grounded in self-love and community.
Angela started her salon to boost self-confidence and sisterhood among the Black women in her community, and to educate stylists on techniques that aren’t taught in beauty schools. It is a space where your time is valued, your growth can flourish, and your hair is honored.
I wish I could say we found Angela but the truth is she found us. I logged into Instagram one day and she was front and center raving about her experience with Mangomint. Angela’s philosophy: “when you find a good thing, you gotta share it”.
And we found something special with Angela – her mission, inspiration, and the community of self-love she’s built. So I took her advice. We found a good thing and we need to share.
On a chilly day in Maryland, I had the privilege of meeting Angela at one of her locations in Silver Springs. Here’s what she had to say about Mangomint:
Her own natural hair journey began in college. Angela was known for doing hair around campus but her whole perspective changed after taking an African American Studies course. It’s this class that started her down the path of accepting and loving her natural hair.
“I’m going to cut off all my hair”
That was the turning point. Angela chopped it all off, began to only provide services for natural hair, and encouraged her circle to embrace their textured hair.
Learning to do textured hair doesn’t happen overnight. Many businesses lack services for textured hair, comprehensive educational resources are hard to come by, and these techniques are not taught in beauty school. It takes trial and error and lots of patience. But for Angela, learning to style natural hair and creating her own curriculum to teach other stylists is now a labor of love.
The historical and emotional significance of natural hair is sacred amongst her clientele and the client experience at N Natural has been curated to reflect and nurture that reverence. She trains stylists and locticians to do hair “The N Way” which means having a deep knowledge on twists, curls, locs and extension styles, and being able to educate clients on their hair.
Discovering Mangomint
Angela had been fielding constant complaints about their previous booking system from her team and clients. But with 10,000 client profiles, migrating all of that data to a new system seemed impossible.
A friend at The Loc Shop recommended Mangomint saying, “I love their customer service”.
“I don’t know if us signing up for Mangomint was one particular feature as much as it was a feeling– it felt good, and that has been my journey with Mangomint. It has felt good from the beginning.” —Angela Walker
One demo later, she quickly felt that Mangomint wasn’t just trying to sell her a product but that we had her best interest in mind. The nerves of switching were eased as her Mangomint onboarding specialist “held her hand” through the entire process and helped to seamlessly migrate all of their 10,000 client profiles.
Creating customized hair services
Natural hair salons understand that every client’s head of hair is unique. N Natural’s client intake form and online booking accounts for the time, skill, style, and price of every service and stylist.
When booking Starter Locs, for example, N Natural clients can select multiple sizes and parting style options. Their client intake form allows the stylists to thoroughly assess the client’s hair thickness, scalp condition, hair goals, and more. This allows them to seamlessly build a custom service that addresses their client’s hair needs.
Stepping up client communication
Client communication was another sticking point in finding new booking software. Prior to switching to Mangomint, Angela’s team used a separate texting app to manage bookings. Staying organized and keeping up with incoming messages was complicated and time consuming.
Now, with Mangomint’s Two-Way Texting, her team is able to manage messages, schedule appointments, view client history and forms all in one place. They can even add internal notes, gather all important information for booking, and close any completed conversations.
Using Mangomint’s marketing & automation tool, they’re also able to send automated rebooking reminders, pre-appointment instructions, and post-appointment follow up text messages without lifting a finger.
Keeping it fresh
N Natural’s branding pairs earthy shades with a bold signature orange to illustrate their lively character and their natural, afro-centered style. As a modern and bustling salon, they need a salon software that keeps business running smoothly with an interface that is both functional and beautiful. With Mangomint, they now have a robust booking software that doesn’t compromise on style.
“We were coming from a system that was clunky and outdated, and Mangomint felt fresh. The color scheme was clean, and it was easy to navigate.”
Try Mangomint for your natural hair salon’s management software
N Natural Hair Studio trusts Mangomint to run their textured hair salon’s operations. Our intuitive hair salon management software supports your entire business.
See how Mangomint could work for your business by starting your free 21-day trial or booking a live demo today.
Josephine Hulburd Schultz is the Operations Manager of Growth Services at Mangomint. With a degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurship, she focuses on transparent and impactful marketing that empowers salon and spa owners to grow their businesses and succeed. Fun fact: Josephine is obsessed with testing out new curly hair products and trying out unique nail art.
